- Wittrans , - Black Earth Cave, Makapan and (South ) - Equus Cave, - Power House Cave. No 915 bis It also includes a rich series of paleontological sites, some of which are well known to the most eminent specialists in prehistory and paleontology. They consist of the following 19 sites:

- Dart Pinnacle, 1. BASIC DATA - Hirdlicka’s Pinnacle, - Hirdlicka’s Deposits, State Party: - Dart Deposits, - Tobias Pinnacle Deposits, Name of property: Makapan Valley and Taung Skull - Berger Cave Complex, Fossil Site - Lucky Moon Cave, - LSN Cave, Location: Makapan Valley: - Innominate Cave, Province - Quinney Cave, Taung Skull Fossil Site: - Cut-through Alley, North-west Province. - Black Earth Cave - Peabody’s Equus Site, Date: 2 February 2004 - Equus Cave, - Blom Cave, Category of property: - Satan Cave, - Alcove Cave, In terms of the categories of cultural property set out in - Oaxland Large Mammal Site, Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a - Acacia Cave. site. Lastly, it includes historic sites and mining sites (vast The property nominated is a serial extension of the ‘Fossil disused limestone quarries) which are important from a Hominid Sites of , , Kromdraai and heritage viewpoint: in particular Norline Quarry at Buxton. Environs’, inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1999 on the basis of criteria iii and vi. In this long series, it is primarily the paleontological and paleo-anthropological component which has made the Brief description: Taung Skull Fossil Site so celebrated. This applies not only to the scientific world but also to the cultural world which The Taung Skull Fossil Site is the place where in 1924 the is fascinated by the origin and history of humankind, in celebrated Taung Skull - a specimen of the species view of the fact, which is now indisputable, that Africa is africanus - was found. the (as had been predicted by Charles Darwin writing as early as 1871, in The Descent of Man). It Makapan Valley houses in its many archaeological – will be noted that a large proportion of the caves where in the form of sediments/fossils and archaeological vestiges significant finds were made bear the names of the – traces of occupation and evolution dating back researchers who explored them (Professors Dart, Hirdlicka, some 3.3 million years. Quinney, Tobias, etc.).

In this respect, the most famous name remains that of 2. THE PROPERTY Professor , who proposed the term Australopithecus africanus, given in 1924 to a hominid Description specimen revealed by the Taung Skull Fossil, whose species is of great importance in the evolution of the The Taung Skull Fossil Site covers an area of 158.7429 hominisation process. The place in which the Taung Skull hectares (ha), with a buffer zone of 3.387 ha. It consists of Fossil was found is known as Dart Pinnacle. archaeological, paleontological, historic and mining sites which are important in heritage terms. b/ Components of Makapan Valley:

Makapan Valley covers an area of 2,220.0495 ha, with a This ensemble, of acknowledged richness, consists of: buffer zone of around 55 ha. It consists of paleontological, archaeological and historic sites. Paleontological sites: - Makapensgat Limeworks a/ Components of the Taung Skull Fossil Site: - Buffalo Cave - Peppercorn’s Cave and Katzenjammer Cave This ensemble includes archaeological sites whose importance is widely recognised. They consist of the Archaeological sites: following 4 caves: - Cave of Earths and Hyaena Cave - Ficus Cave and the Ficus Site

43 - Many open-air sites Important note:

Historic sites: In addition to the protection conferred by the National - Historic Cave Heritage Resources Act, there are other legal safeguards - relating to land use, development and environmental impact in the zone:

History - mining exploitation is governed by the Quarries and Mining Act (no. 50, of 1991); This inscription application is an extension of the property inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999 (on the basis - the provisions of the Environmental Conservation Act of criteria iii and vi) under the name: "Fossil Hominid Sites (no. 73, of 1989) stipulate that impact studies are of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs". compulsory prior to all construction work;

The whole of this zone contains essential elements which - the provisions of the National Environment Management define the origin and evolution of humankind. Thus, as a Act (no. 107, of 1999) state that management plans must result of exploration and scientific analysis: be drawn up and approved by the governmental committee for environmental coordination; - geological strata have revealed the first traces of hominids in southern Africa, dating back around 3.5 - lastly, the Development Encouragement Act (no. 67, of million years; 1995) provides for the devising, by the provincial and local authorities, of land development objectives (agriculture, - stone and bone tools, dating back from 2 to 1.5 million tourism, leisure). This enables the local control and years, have been uncovered, particularly at the time of the protection of sites against all damaging land use and risks discovery in 1936 by Professor of the first relating to urban sprawl. adult Australopithecus; Management structure: - fossil elements have enabled the identification of several specimens of early hominids, linked to the Homo genus, a Taung Skull Fossil Site: collateral ancestor of modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens), more particularly specimens of Paranthropus dating back Five agencies have management authority: between 4.5 million and 2.5 million years: Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus robustus. - the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), a national agency established in accordance with the - lastly, evidence of the domestication of fire, another provisions of the NHRA; specific characteristic of human behaviour, has been - the North West Department of Agriculture, Conversation detected, for the period extending from 1.8m to 1m years and Environment, to which authority is devolved ago. particularly relating to the control of animal and plant material; - the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) Management regime exercises control over all matters pertaining to forestry protection, and to surface and ground water; Legal provision: - the Greater Taung Municipality, a local government structure in charge of the Integrated Development Plan and Taung Skull Fossil Site: the Spatial Planning Framework, and whose administrative territory is adjacent to the Skull Fossil Site. In May 2004, i.e. three months after submission of the - the North West Parks and Tourism Board (NWPTB) an nomination dossier, the status of "National Heritage Site" organisation established in 1997 to manage tourist was conferred on this ensemble. This means that it is now activities on the site. protected by the provisions of the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA), and benefits from the constant It should be noted that because of its use of the resources attention of the South Africa Heritage Resource Agency of the site, the Batlapeng Tribal Authority may be involved (SAHRA). in the process of managing this site, which is immediately surrounded by their living area. As a result, the buffer zone can immediately be declared as a "protected space" and retain this status for a period of 2 Makapan Valley: years, leaving time to find sustainable solutions for the preservation of the zone. Five agencies are involved in the management of this site:

Makapan Valley: - the national agency (SAHRA), naturally; - the Limpopo Tourism and Parks Board (LTPB), which - This ensemble was proclaimed a National Heritage Site in in addition to its responsibilities in tourism - owns part of 2002, and thus benefits from the protections mentioned the land to be protected; above for the Taung Skull site. - the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), which not only regulates scientific research activity, but also owns some 77 hectares of the zone;

44 - An integrated provincial and local structure - the Environs” inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999. Makapan Valley Project Management Committee For this reason the State Party justifies its nomination by (MVPMC) - brings together the representatives of: referring to criteria iii and vi on which basis the inscription was granted in 1999. • the Tribal Authority • the Mogalakwena municipality For the Taung Skull Fossil Site, it is pointed out that: and the provincial and local delegates and authorities. Criterion iii: The site bears exceptional testimony to some of the most important Australopithecine specimens dating - The Mogalakwena municipality, which is the structure back more than 3.5 million years; this throws unique light that deals with residents, and which is responsible for the on to the origins and then the evolution of humankind, control of the water system. through the hominisation process.

Note that the Municipality is the main owner of the land in Criterion vi: This site constitutes a vast reserve of scientific the management zone of this site, which is adjacent to the data of universal scope and considerable potential, linked residents' living zone. to the history of the most ancient periods of humankind.

Resources: The State Party proposes the adding to these two criteria of criterion iv: Taung Skull Fossil Site: Criterion iv: The site bears exceptional testimony to a After years of disinterest or abandonment, the site is now significant period in the evolutionary process of being given attention. This nomination dossier shows that humankind. substantial financial resources are being devoted to the implementation of the conservation policy. In accordance For the Makapan Valley, the State Party bases its with the provisions of the 5-year development plan (The nomination on criteria iii and vi only. Integrated Spatial Development Framework), the funds come from the following programmes or organisations: 3. EVALUATION BY ICOMOS • Site Conservation Budget (Buxton Heritage Site) • Tourism Programme (Tourism Sign Boards for Actions by ICOMOS Taung Skull Site) • Museum (Taung Skull Interpretative Museum) An ICOMOS expert mission visited the sites in August • Management Plan (Conservation Management 2004. Plan) Note: The total forecast amount is approximately 16 million rands, or some USD 2,700,000. The evaluator for this mission is the same person who carried out the ICOMOS mission in January 1999 for the Makapan Valley: “Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs”. An overall plan setting out the conservation and infrastructure development projects for the development of This greatly facilitated the analysis and enabled a study of the zone (Comprehensive Business Plan) has been drawn the extension conditions proposed, based on a good up. It is monitored on an annual basis. knowledge of the practical realities of the site and the problems. The following are involved in its financing: ICOMOS also contacted the State Party to obtain additional information about the location of the sites, the • Limpopo Tourism and Parks Board, boundaries of the Taung Skull Fossil Site, and the joint • Limpopo Economic Development Enterprise, management of the sites and archaeological data. The State SAHRA • Party has provided supplementary information and agreed • University of the Witwatersrand to extend the nominated site to include part of the Buffer • The provincial and local authorities. Zone known as the Liquor store.

To this are added private donations and contributions from the National Lottery (e.g. the State National Lottery / Lotto Conservation very recently granted 16,600,000 rands for the conservation of the sites, equivalent to approximately Conservation history: USD2,800,000). Generally speaking, the importance of fossil hominid sites is revealed by excavations, and on occasion by chance Justification by the State Party (summary) discoveries. This means that material is removed from the sites as discoveries take place, and that, in this specific The nomination for inscription on the World Heritage List field, one must make judgments based on conventional is presented as a serial extension of the “Fossil Hominid conservation terms. Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and

45 a/ It should be recalled that the place in which the Taung regard to the Taung Skull Fossil Site, convinced of the Skull Fossil site was discovered is an open limestone necessity of setting up an integrated management agency quarry, and that industrial and commercial considerations bringing together all the organisations, administrative at first prevented this site from being declared a paleo- departments, local authorities and legal entities involved anthropological site. and interested, the South African authorities have committed themselves - during the field mission It should not be forgotten either that the Taung Skull Fossil undertaken by ICOMOS (and particularly after the working Sites ensemble (nominated for inclusion on the World session of 17 August 2004) - to ensuring the participation, Heritage List) represents one of the last vestiges of the in the management process, of all those interested at the racist ideology of and the exploitation of the national, regional and local levels. work of Black people. Many of the buildings in which the black workers lived in poor conditions are still intact, and The regulatory provisions for the setting up of this new the memory of this past period still remains vivid. management authority, and its operation, will be effective at the end of March 2005, and at all events before the 29th Another remark should also be made: many questions session of the in July 2005. concerning the long-term conservation of the sites are clearly raised in the inscription nomination dossier. These Risk analysis: questions must now be seen as less acute, and be reconsidered, as the sites have now been proclaimed The inscription nomination dossier unhesitatingly national heritage properties (May 2004), which gives them highlights the risks facing the nominated site, and the a high level of conservation protection. threats faced by its components in general: b/ The essential remark concerning Makapan Valley is the - Development pressures, fragile nature of the structures uncovered by quarry - Pressures on the integrity of the environment, because of exploitation or archaeological excavations. the presence of the villagers, scattered over the protected area, and their use of wood and water, which are necessary The monitoring carried out up to now, whose results have for their everyday life but are often prejudicial to the been mixed, will be stepped up under the provisions of the environmental balance. National Heritage Resources Act. - The damage caused by insufficiently controlled or anarchical visits (particularly by tourists). State of conservation: All these risks and threats are taken seriously by the It is important not to lose sight of two key facts: authorities concerned. Their impact is currently being analysed, and corrective measures or long-term protection • The sites which contain fossil hominids are measures are being prepared at all levels of responsibility, generally fragile; with the participation of the population. • The importance of the paleontological and archaeological sites is only revealed by excavations, i.e. by the material that is removed Authenticity and integrity as discoveries are made. This means that the most significant finds, which enable advances in From the viewpoint of integrity (in this case the criteria are knowledge and make the site valuable, as the site those which apply to natural properties), the caves, breccia of the find, cannot be conserved in their context. and strata from which quantities of fossils or tools have been extracted are generally intact. They are no longer To these facts, which are in no way specific to the sites in exploited as quarries. South Africa, may be added - as far as conservation is concerned - something which is specific to the country: the Similarly - despite the presence of the scattered population legacy of the ideology of Apartheid, which even influenced and domestic animals - the landscape, taken as a whole, the fields of research and anthropology. has a high level of integrity.

However, it should be pointed out that the relevant South As for the fossil sites, it is hard to apply the concept of African authorities - as revealed in the nomination dossier - authenticity in the classical sense. are fully aware of the problems raised by the conservation of the sites, and that they carry out effective monitoring. Comparative evaluation Lastly, the status of “National Heritage Site” conferred in 2002 on the Makapan Valley and in 2004 on the Taung In 1997, ICOMOS had a comparative study carried out by Skull Fossil Site means that the conservation conditions two eminent paleontologists of potential fossil hominid should be gradually improved. sites for inscription on the World Heritage List. The study set out six criteria for evaluating such sites: Management: - a good chronology, As indicated above (in the section on Management - number of fossils, Structure), the diversity and the specialisation of the - dating of discoveries, agencies involved in the management of the sites ensure - discovery potential, that the questions, activities and aspects covered by this - closely linked groups of sites, management are taken into account. Accordingly, with - discovery and evidence of human evolution.

46 Like Sterkfontein Valley, inscribed on the World Heritage Conclusion: List in 1999, the Taung Skull Fossil Site and Makapan Valley meet all the above criteria. As ICOMOS is suggesting that the extension should be approved, it is strongly recommended that the appropriate order is not disturbed and that homogeneity is observed: Outstanding universal value the same criteria should apply for the sites already inscribed and for the extensions. General statement:

Just as much as the fossil hominid sites of Sterkfontein, 4. ICOMOS RECOMMENDATION Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1999, Taung Skull Fossil Site and Recommendations with respect to inscription Makapan Valley contain exceptional traces, which are both physical and cultural, of the first stages of the evolution of ICOMOS recommends that the World Heritage Committee Hominidae. adopt the following draft decision:

These deposits are of universal value from the viewpoint of The World Heritage Committee, science, and anthropology. In fact, they bear a testimony of the first importance covering several 1. Having examined Document WHC-05/29.COM/8B, significant periods of human prehistory. The discovery in 1925 by Professor Dart of the fossil skull of the Taung 2. Approves the extension on the basis of the existing child - a discovery confirmed by others (particularly from criteria iii and vi. 1936 onwards, in 1938, and from 1948 onwards), led to the conclusion that the species represented had a definite link 3. Notes the proposal made by the State Party for the with the origin and evolution of humankind. changing of the name of the property, which as extended becomes: “The Fossil Hominid-bearing Sites of South Furthermore, it is these South African fossils that in fact Africa”. enabled the designation of Africa as the cradle of humankind.

Evaluation of criteria: ICOMOS, April 2005

With regard to the Taung Skull Fossil Site, the nomination dossier refers to criteria iii, iv and vi.

It justifies the application of these criteria as follows:

- for criteria iii and vi: by pointing out that this is a proposal to extend the fossil hominid sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai and Environs, and that the said sites have been inscribed on the basis of criteria iii and iv, and concluding that the applicability of the same criteria was a logical consequence.

- for criteria iv: by arguing that the site bears an exceptional testimony to an important stage of the evolutionary process of humankind.

As for the Makapan Valley ensemble, the nomination is however limited to criteria iii and vi.

Important note:

It seems that criteria iv should not apply because of homogeneity in the reference to criteria. If the extension is to be approved, it would be approved on the basis of the existing criteria iii and vi. How could the addition of a criterion be accepted for a mere extension, and above all for only one part of the extension (i.e. Taung Skull Fossil Site)?

It would be more logical to propose that criterion iv should be accepted for the basic sites already inscribed in 1999 and for the two extensions (not just Taung Skull Fossil Site but also Makapan Valley.

47

Map showing the boundaries of the Makapan Valley

Makapansgat Limeworks interior

Block of richly fossiliferous breccia

Map showing the boundaries of the Taung Skull Fossil Site

Revised Map showing the nominated area of the Taung Skull Fossil Site

Taung Fossil Skull

Abandoned Norlim Limestone Quarry at Buxton